Warriors Wallop Mt. San Jacinto; Advance to 3C2A Super Regionals

TORRANCE, Calif. --- No. 11 El Camino College completed the two-game sweep over No. 14 Mt. San Jacinto with a dominant 13-3 victory in game two of the California Community College Athletics Association Baseball Southern California Regionals on Saturday morning at Warrior Field.

With the victory, the Warriors (30-12) clinched a spot into next week's 3C2A SoCal Super Regionals, a three-team regional that will feature the Warriors along with No. 7 Glendale, which completed a two-game sweep over Pasadena on Saturday, and either No. 2 Saddleback or No. 23 Long Beach pending the results of Saturday's schedule.

On Saturday, the Warriors offense erupted with 16 hits as eight of the nine players in the starting lineup all recorded a hit. Patrick Stark, the only player without a hit, drew three walks and scored a run. The Eagles (29-12), who were the designated home team, managed just three hits on the day.

Dylan Knowles had a big day at the dish for the Warriors, going 3-for-6 with a grand slam home run and five RBI to go along with two runs scored. Juan Carlos Camarena was 2-for-5 with a walk and three RBI with Connor Meidroth and Brendan McAndrews each driving in two.

Jack Snyder was solid on the mound as he went five innings and allowed just two earned runs on two hits. He walked two and struck out seven to stay undefeated and improve to 6-0. Casey Kitigawa and Pierce Kingston each tossed two innings out of the bullpen to secure the win.

The Warriors were retired in order in the first inning by Eagles' starter Chris Scovel but that's about as quiet as the ECC offense would get for the rest of the day as they scored at least a run in the next five innings and recorded a hit in every inning except the eighth. The big blow came in the fifth inning as the Warriors loaded the bases against reliever Derek Ryan, already up 5-0. Knowles came up to bat and promptly unloaded on the first pitch he saw and hit it midway up the netting in right field for his second grand slam of the season and fourth homer of the season overall, essentially putting the game away.

The Warriors would add four unearned runs in the sixth to put an exclamation point on their win.

One day after struggling offensively with runners in scoring position, the Warriors feasted in those situations on Saturday going 6-for-18.

The Warriors have now won 30 games in a season for the seventh time under head coach Nate Fernley and the second straight season as well as the fourth time in the last six years.